Saturday, 16 February 2008

January went by in a flash with barely a whisper and we're already halfway into February. But they both seem to be months where everything gets caught in Ang Lee's Ice Storm: frozen, muffled and a bit boring. Anything that pops up into view, a bit shiny-like, I'll swoop down on it like a magpie and love and hold it and call it my own.

Treading carefully into Dan's world here, but Mitchell and Webb are back with their series That Mitchell and Webb Look on BBC2 on Thursday. I like these two. They're funny. End of. And for two performers who get their faces EVERYWHERE, even on bus stop ad spaces (and no, I don't know the waving person who looks like Eileen from Coronation St), they're the most un-celebrity celebrities. For those who still have yet to sample M&W, here is an interview from last year, billed on their own site as "27 minutes of hilarious repartee".

A classic Peep Show moment where Mark kicks off on Jeremy's clubbing mates.

Peep Show is still one of the freshest shows in the TV calendar. Each series is as good as the last, and the forthcoming fifth one promises more of the same but with a different theme. The writers say it will be the dating series to exploit the characters' single status. Because of the point-of-view filming where all you see in sex scenes are faces, it means, according to Robert Webb, that "A very nice cameraman called Nick Martin bounces up and down on you politely".

Go here to today's The Guide for an interview where even in print, M&W tickle my funny bone.

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I'm going to add my voice to the sound of the crowd and give my love to Hercules and Love Affair. Coming on like Sylvester doing arthouse dance in Manchester circa A Certain Ratio, theirs is a gorgeous Valium disco. Instead of sharp collars and medallions, it's chiffon and Silvikrined afros floating through dry ice. It's the perfect music for a revival of the gayers' flag dancing. Anyone?

Andrew Butler, a DJ stroke producer has collaborators like Antony Hegarty, Nomi and Kim Ann with him in the H&LA project. In interviews, with his art school background, seems very focused with a clear vision of how H&LA should appear (like Greek gods come to save pop) and sound (like Cerrone on that dancey Strawberry acid tab you used to get in the early 90s). This attention to the art of the band is lacking in today's digital age. Fair enough, the physical product is kind of ignored these days, but look at how Roisin Murphy conducted her Overpowered album project; the imagery and imagination was there in not just the CD sleeves, but photoshoots, videos, and publicity shots that adorned a thousand-odd websites.

Antony Hegarty's voice fits this combo like a glove. And with a dance backing track, he sounds like the laconic, iconic Bryan Ferry (albeit with a little nip of helium) on Blind, the blinding new H&LA track currently being ignored by Radio 1. Fuckers.